Amateur Lincicome Falters

GOLF

The 1st-round Leader Struggles, And Jennifer Rosales Takes The U.s. Women's Open Lead.

July 3, 2004|By Randall Mell, Miami Bureau

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The giddy fun faded quickly Friday at the U.S. Women's Open.

Brittany Lincicome, the bright-eyed 18-year-old amateur from Seminole with the fairy-tale first-round run to the top of the leaderboard, came down to earth.

Standing over a 2-foot putt at her eighth hole of the day, she watched in misery when her ball lipped out. She gazed skyward, scrunching her face and grabbing the back of her neck. She joined in the chorus of groans rising over Orchards Golf Club as the championship settled into its natural rhythm in the second round, looking more like the gritty hard work that it is intended to be.

"Yesterday, I was smiling and all happy," Lincicome said after posting a 6-over-par 77. "I made a bogey here and a bogey there today, and I lost it after that. I couldn't get back and be all happy and cheerful like yesterday."

Lincicome stood at 1-over 143 after two rounds, six shots off the pace.

Jennifer Rosales emerged with the second-round lead after shooting 67, equaling the low round of the day. At 5-under 137, she was one shot ahead of Kim Saiki (68) and Candie Kung (68) with Lake Nona's Annika Sorenstam (68) just two back with fellow Swede Carin Koch (67) and Michelle Ellis (69).

"I love playing a tough course," said Rosales, 25, a former NCAA champion at Southern California who broke through for her first LPGA victory two months ago. "I love playing in an Open. I love the challenges and having to make all these different shots."

While Lincicome faltered, a couple of fellow junior phenoms moved up. Hawaiian 14-year-old Michelle Wie (70) and 17-year-old Paula Creamer (69) are four back with veterans Kelly Robbins (67) and Pat Hurst (71).

Defending champion Hilary Lunke (74) fell nine back.

Wie was breathing down the necks of the leaders before making double bogey at the 16th hole. Still, she made six birdies on the day with her father, B.J., on her bag as caddie.

"My dad was like, `Come on, you've got to get a birdie,' " Wie said. "I was like, `Come on, settle down, we've just got to make pars out here.' Pars are good."

Robbins, who lost in a Monday playoff to Lunke last year at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon, holed out an 8-iron from 126 yards on the 15th hole from nearly the same spot under a tree that Lincicome holed out from a day earlier.

The run these juniors are making is creating pressure on some veterans.

"It's so unpredictable these days," Robbins said. "It seems like every day you get a new young player that shows up and has a lot of game. I think we are just trying to keep up the pace."